A Second Chance
by Lord Esquire
Summary: Havoc wanted a second chance, well with the help of Hei she just might get one. Takes place in episode 6 and goes off from there. Rated T for references that young children might not like, ie. Havoc's Payment and a bit of violence. Also has H&H pairing.
1. A Second Chance I

_Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in here, nor do I own Darker than Black, all I own is the plot and my assumption about how Havoc's powers work._

_Also there are some spoilers for episode 6, up until a certain point, from there; the fan-writings takes over._

Page break is: - - - - - - -, Italtics are thoughts or emphasis, Verbal speech is same as usual, nothing else to note really.

A Second Chance

Hei ran away from Hell's Gate, dragging Havoc along behind him. They rounded a corner and kept running, the people following them wanted Havoc and Hei wasn't too keen on giving up his link to his Sister just yet. He didn't feel like leaving Havoc behind either.

Hei's human mind was racing, _Havoc had regained her memories, he hoped at least, but if she'd regained them, then she'd be able to tell him about his sister and what had happened at Heaven's Gate._ She'd put herself through a very traumatic experience all for him when he'd told her about his sister, but he remembered that she had asked that he kill her if she looked like reverting to her contractor self.

_"That old feeling is coming back to me. . . . I thought that if I changed like you it would be alright to get my power back._" 'So she had gotten her powers back', he thought.

_"If I had only met you earlier, I could have lived my life without being a contractor. Please, kill me" she pleaded. Then she offered up her neck and moved Hei's hand up around her throat. _

_The wind then gusted up, and Hei turned and saw a shadow coming down a street of to the side, "We are going to get out of here now," he said. Seeing that Havoc was still gazing emptily at him, he added; "You are not a contractor anymore! You have no reason to die! Then they'd run. _

Hei's Contractor mind was calm and collected. _Keep moving, don't stop, avoid the enemy, get back to a safe house, and then deal with Havoc's emotions. _

So he ran on. Suddenly it started to rain. _A Contractor. _He ran harder, dragging a weeping Havoc along with him.

- - - - - - -

Havoc's mind was all over the place, she'd regained her memories as a contractor, but she had remembered why she hadn't wanted to remember. Blood, limbs, bodies, hundreds of bodies, a few unique, but all dead. Blood, drinking blood, drinking children's blood. That was her 'payment', she remembered. It was all coming back, all the thing's she'd done as a Contractor, all the people she'd killed, all the blood she'd drunk...

In her past life as a Contractor, being a Contractor she'd had perfect, rational judgement, she had felt emotions, like every human did, but because she was a Contractor she'd been able to set them aside and operate calmly and methodically. Then the incident at Heavens Gate in South America happened, after that she'd woken up, alone and without her powers, she'd woken up a normal human. No, not a normal human, a Regressor, a contractor who'd lost their powers.

After that she found a little village in Europe, and she'd been taken in by a family. She wasn't sure if she felt love or anything as strong as that, but she'd felt appreciation and acceptance. She'd been given a second chance, a chance to change.

After talking to, or rather, being interrogated by, having her arm snapped, then fed by, _then_ talking with Hei, she'd decided that helping Hei might have been what her second chance was for, maybe she could regain her memories and powers and stay human, maybe even have a chance at a normal life with Contractor powers, after all, Hei seemed to be managing, before he was a contractor, he'd been a ruthless killer whose only loyalty was to his sister Pai, but when she thought back to then and now, Hei was different, he seemed more human.

So she had done it, for him. Because he was a contractor who was being human, she thought she could be one too.

Her hand that was being held by Hei as they ran through the sudden rainstorm slipped, then she tripped and fell, then all she was thinking caught up with her.

- - - - - - -

"I'm scared! No! I don't want to change back!" she cried as she slumped down in the rain.

Hei tried to get Havoc to her feet to keep moving, but she resisted.

"I don't want to kill anyone anymore!" she screamed. "I don't want to remember it! So please. . . ." Her pleading was cut off when Hei grabbed her head in his hands.

"It's all right" He whispered, "If you get away from here your powers will not come back. You won't kill anyone, anymore!" His face softened, and he smiled, "Right?"

Havoc, looking into his eyes, smiled back. Her mind lightened, and so did her heart.

Hei's Contractor mind suddenly kicked in, _'Don't stand still! Keep moving, stationary objects make easy targets keep moving!'_ A flash of silver caught his eye, from a point at the end of the street directly behind Havoc, it suddenly surged forward racing toward Havoc's back. Hei's contractor mind raced, and in a split second made its choice.

Hei grabbed Havoc and began to push her out of the way to his left, and used the force of the momentum from pushing her away to dodge go to his right-

Shtick!

"Ah!"

If Havoc had had more bodyweight it would've worked out fine.

- - - - - - -

Havoc felt a sharp pain in her right side, then realised it was the sidewalk that Hei had thrown her onto.

"Havoc, run!" she heard Hei yell, somewhere off to her right, instinctively she dashed over into the nearest alley, then looked back across the street at Hei,

Just as two more projectiles zoomed in and shattered on the corner of the building she'd ran behind, shards of _Ice_ splintering everywhere. She then looked at Hei, who was struggling to get to his feet, then saw the original projectile, the one that she had felt fly by her as she was thrown, the one that was now covered in blood, and lying a few feet behind Hei. Hei, now clutching his side, where blood was flowing out, flung a wire from his sleave forward at the assailant, hearing a spinning and a _chink_ she assumed it go deflected, Hei then rolled to his right as another ice-bolt shattered on the road where he'd been seconds before.

"Hei!" she yelled, and began to take a step back out, when another ice-bolt chipped a chunk of brick of the corner of the building that was her cover.

"Havoc, run! I'll catch up!" Hei yelled, dodging yet another ice-bolt, and drawing his conductive sword. "Hurry he's closing in!"

Havoc ran.

- - - - - - -

During the next 2 minutes she could hear the sounds of sparks flying and ice shattering, then there was a louder explosion, then the sounds stopped. She stopped. Listening, she could hear someone running, running fast and running toward her. _'They couldn't have caught up that fast could they?'_ She thought. _'Well they could when you've been underfeed, brutalised, and emotionally wrecked.' _

The running came nearer; soon they'd be on the same street that she'd fled onto. What if it was the Contractor that had attacked them, she felt a new wave of fear, just as Hei had given her hope at a normal life again someone was coming to ruin it, she felt fear, she felt her powers stirring. . . NO! She couldn't go back to that, no more killing! Hei had looked her in the eye and told her that she wouldn't have to. . . Hei! What if the contractor had killed Hei, not possible she thought, even before become a contractor he was the "Black Reaper", but if he'd died. . . . The footsteps were getting louder, closer. Now she listened closely the running sounded somewhat uneven, like the person was injured- _Hei_ -she thought, just as the person ran out onto the street in front of her.

"Hei, are you . . ." she began,

"Keep running!" He yelled back! "There's another one of them still out there!"

Havoc's eyes drifted down to Hei's side, which was bleeding more and more with each step he took. "But you're hurt!"

"I noticed, now keep running!" He replied, grabbing Havoc's hand again as he ran past her. Her mind was still a mess but Hei was some sort of stabilizing influence. She kept running.

End of Chapter 1.

- - - - - - -

Well there's the 1st Chapter done anyway, I have ideas for a second, or maybe even a third chapter, but this can work as a stand alone idea. The disclaimer mentioned my assumption on how Havoc's powers worked, well I dropped the idea of using them in this chapter, so if a second is wanted, I'll consider it, however doing so opens a can of angst...

If you can think of anything worth commenting on please let me know in a review, but these are the main things I'd like to know:Were they more-or-less in character? (no one jumping out and saying "ZOMG WTF STFU !!!" and rot like that) Were there any continuity slip ups? (Like how contractors think and such) Was it grammatically ok? (spelling and stuff) Also I'm linking Havoc and Hei together romantically, though it may take time, but if this is a believable starting point tell me. (I thought something could've happened, if November 11 hadn't been a bastard. . . . sorry I hate the guy)


	2. A Second Chance II

This is the Second Chapter of my story.

Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in here, nor do I own _Darker than Black_, all I own is the plot and my assumption about how Havoc's powers work.

Also please read the authors note at the end, as I agonized a lot over this chapter and its contents. Lastly, thanks goes to Omnicat, who helped brainstorm some ideas and theory's that will be used in this, and future chapters.

- - - - - - -

As they ran, Havoc realised that she felt... different. She knew what being a contractor was like, what being a Regressor was like, but this was... different. She could feel emotions, but that wasn't anything special, as all contractors could 'feel' emotions, but unlike a contractor her emotions were dominant, they weren't suppressed and her body wasn't ticking over like a machine. She was running because she telling herself to, not because her Contractor part was keeping her moving, but because her human part wanted to keep moving. _I want to live._ Havoc felt alive and wanted to stay that way. _I have something to live for. . . I have a second chance; Hei gave me a second chance. . . . _Spurred on by this thought, she tightened her grip on Hei's hand and ran harder.

When Hei felt her grip tighten, he thought that she was about to trip and fall again, so he held tighter and pulled her forward, only to discover that she was running at his pace, not being dragged along. _Well, at least she's motivated,_ thought his human mind. Hei's Contractor mind was busy thinking over a map of the abandoned streets and suburbs that surrounded Hell's Gate. _Left, second right, third right, first left and then the fourth house on the right. Then they'd be back at the little dark complex where he'd interrogated Havoc before the nights events._ Hei's body, however, was being a lot less straightforward or helpful, his hip was bleeding profusely, vision slowly but surely blurring, and his feet felt cold. Hei would've grinned in mirth, bleeding, losing consciousness, and cold feet... _Enough of that,_ the contractor part said,_ focus, you need to._

He turned into the next left, splashing in a puddle; if he'd looked back at the puddle he would've noticed an observer spirit rise out of the water, then fall back into it.

- - - - - - -

"Ungrateful Contractor... I give him a smokescreen, and what does he do? He runs off!" grumbled a stout little man in his 40's as he pulled off a gas-mask.

"Isn't that what a smokescreen's for?" replied the cat walking by his side.

"Not for running away from us! We came to get him, we keep his little escapade quiet from the Organization, and he's making it difficult for us...Where's he heading anyway?" the man asked, as he keyed a radio in his ear.

"I...I think he's going to an old apartment complex." replied a girl's voice.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes"

"Has he got that Regressor with him?"

"Yes"

"Right, let's get moving"

"Why is Hei running away from us do you think?" mused the cat.

"How should I know?"

"Perhaps he wants some time alone with the Regressor?"

"Ha, you're Contractors! That's a human thing you're talking about"

"You did read the organization's file about him didn't you?"

"Yeah"

"Weren't he and this Regressor in South America 3 years ago?" 

"Just about every contractor working for anyone was in South America, no coincidence there, shame they didn't all stay in South America."

"Was Hei's sister in there too?"

"Like I said, every contractor was down there. Is that why you think he's running off like this?"

"For his sister's sake? Quite likely, his file did say that he kept searching for her, he probably thinks that this Regressor knows where his sister is."

The man's earpiece radio crackled, "I've lost them" said the girl's voice.

"Ah great, Well you're like him aren't you? A contractor I mean, what's his next move?"

"Well, speaking logically, as all contractors do, and assuming that he's after information about his sister, _I_ would find a safe spot, acquire my information, and then cover my tracks."

"By 'cover my tracks' you mean kill her?"

"Yes"

"But we need to hand her on to the organization!"

"It is possible that if Hei acquired favourable information, given his _oddities_ he could show mercy..."

"Oddities?"

"He's the only contractor I know who's searching for a retaliative because they want to."

"What if she didn't know anything anyway?"

"Cover my tracks"

- - - - - - -

Hei and Havoc finally reached the fourth house on the right.

"Get in" order Hei, Havoc obeyed. Hei followed, pulling the door shut behind him. Hei then started to make his way to the couch, halfway there he stumbled. _NO! Don't black out now! Havoc's right there, she's got her memories! She knows where Pai is!_

As Hei tried to take another step, the numbness in his feet caused him to trip and fall further, catching him on a chair.

"Hei, are you ok?" cried Havoc.

"Just, help me to the bed, end of the hall" gritted Hei. Havoc complied, and then started looking around for...

"Is there a medical kit here?" She asked?

"There's a first-aid kit in the cupboard under the stove, but before that..." began Hei. Havoc left the room, and then returned with the red box. She sat on the side of the bed and started to roll up the side of Hei's shirt to get a look at the wound, only to have Hei's hand swat hers away.

"Never mind that, tell me where Pai is."

"We'll talk later ok? You need to rest now; I'll get started on the wound while you're resting." spoke Havoc calmly.

"No! I can't wait until 'later' I want to know right now!" demanded Hei, as he started to get up. _So close, she knows where Pai is, I'm so close..._ His vision stared to blur...

"If you don't calm down and let me help you there won't be a 'later'!" countered Havoc, trying to push him back down.

"No!"

"Yes!"

"How do I know you'll still be here when I wake up? You've got your memories back, now help me get my sister back!" shouted Hei, as he started to get up, only to have his vision blur to the point where Havoc's head was a pale blob with a red mess on top.

"I'm not going anywhere because I want to help you! When you get better I'll tell you everything I can, but if you keep pushing yourself you're going to die!"

"I don't care about me, I care about Pai!"

"Well, you mightn't care about yourself right now, but I do! I want you to live!" she blurted out without thinking. _'I'm not going to let you die, especially not after giving me second chance!' _she thought, as she tried to push him back down.

Hei gritted his teeth, trying to fight the dizziness and blurred vision, his contractor mind taking over the argument. _Be forceful._ "Tell me...now!" he grimaced. _No success, try familiarity_. "Please Carmine..." Havoc blinked at the use of her given name. _A reaction, possible success with more time, but no immediate information, third option: pleading._ "Please...please... tell me...where my sister...is...AH" he ended it with a cry of pain as his injuries screamed against his bodies efforts to move. _No information. Fourth optio- _

"Hei? Hei!" cried Havoc, as he collapsed back on the bed. She then she realised that he'd pushed himself too far, and had slipped into unconsciousness as a result. "Idiot" muttered Havoc as she hastened with the medic kit she had got from the cupboard. _Why does he have to be so obsessed with Pai_, she thought, though, given what she'd seen of them in South America, Hei had always cared for Pai in the extremes, putting his own life above that of his sister on several occasions.

_'Why didn't I just tell him where Pai was to ease his mind?' _thought Havoc, as she started cleaning the wound in Hei's side, _'Why didn't I just tell him that Pai's . . . where?'_ She froze.

Havoc suddenly realised, she _didn't_ know where Pai was...

- - - - - - - **End of Chapter II**

**Author's Note**: Sorry this took so long to come out. I guess I was flushed with the good reviews from the first chapter, and wanted to do a good job on the second. If there was anything that didn't ring right, or sounded off, please let me know so I don't make the same mistake twice. Specifically the Havoc and Hei dialogue, I'm finding it hard to pick phrases that aren't too leading. Any feedback is good feedback...

**Kind of a 'behind the scenes'**: In one draft for this chapter, I had Havoc say "Can't you see I care about you?" or "I will live for you" but they were FAR too forward and cliché, a 'shut-up' kiss was even toyed with, and disregarded for the same reasons... another draft had Mao, Huang & Yin receive an order to kill H & H but decide against it because of different reasons, (curiosity, 'comradeship' and a crush respectively) but that didn't go in because at the time of this event Hei hasn't been with the team for too long, so no 'team-bonds' would've formed, also the OOC-ness would've been horrible and fatal...


End file.
